Federer-Murray: What’s at stake

Roger Federer will be going for his fifth straight U.S. Open title, a record matched only by the great Bill Tilden, who won six from 1920 through ’25. If Federer can beat Andy Murray today, he’ll have tied the modern-day record for the best winning streak at any major. Roy Emerson won five straight Australian Opens (1963-67), Bjorn Borg did it at Wimbledon (1976-80), and Federer has a Wimbledon streak from 2003 through ’07.

Meanwhile, thanks to Murray’s upset of Rafael Nadal, Rod Laver remains safe as the only player in the Open era to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open consecutively, in 1969.

With 12 major titles, Federer remains in a tie with Emerson, two short of Pete Sampras’ 14. We’ve had a lull in the “best of all time” argument for Federer, but if he wins today, giving him streaks of five straight wins at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, that’s an awfully strong argument on his behalf.

Murray certainly isn’t buying any talk of a “slumping” Federer. “I mean, he made the final at Wimbledon, the final of the French Open, the semis of the Australian Open, and he’s in the final here. That’s an unbelievable run, and I don’t understand why everyone thinks he’s not playing well. He’s played unbelievable in the best tournaments and he’s in the final for the fifth straight year here. It’s a ridiculous run.”

Equally ridiculous: Federer has reached at least the semifinals of the last 18 majors. As John McEnroe remarked, “Who else in the top 10 has even played the last 18 majors?”

Murray has a 2-1 career edge on Federer, and all of the matches have been on hardcourts. Federer won at Bangkok in 2005, Murray prevailed at Cincinnati in 2006, and Murray won again this year at Dubai, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Heading into today, this is how it looks for most career titles at the U.S. Open (previously known as the U.S. Championships): Tilden 7, Sampras and Jimmy Connors 5, Federer and McEnroe 4.

Murray owns six titles on tour, and it’s interesting to note that the Bay Area got an early look at his brilliance. Murray won the 2006 San Jose event, beating Lleyton Hewitt in the final, then came back the next year to defeat Andy Roddick for the San Jose title.

Murray can become the first British man to win the Open since Fred Perry in 1936. The last Brit to reach the final was Greg Rusedski, who lost to Patrick Rafter in 1997, but considering Rusedski’s Canadian roots and his all-American accent, the Brits never quite considered him one of theirs. (The beloved Virginia Wade won the Open women’s title in 1968, defeating Billie Jean King in the final.)

Nadal has plenty of time to win his first Open, but he acknowledges that it’s his most difficult assignment given the fast surface and the fact that it arrives near the end of the long tennis year. When it comes to all-time greats who did not win the Open, the list isn’t very long: Borg, Lew Hoad, Tony Roche, Jack Crawford (1930s) and Jean Borotra (1920s). Among the women who didn’t win it, only Evonne Goolagong ‘s name stands out.

As we mentioned at Wimbledon, Murray left Great Britain to train in Spain when he was 15, largely on the advice of Nadal, then 16, when the two met at a junior tournament. It was a career-molding move. Murray left his damp, chilly homeland for a place with great weather, lavish clay courts and extremely tough competition. But as McEnroe said on CBS during his upset of Nadal, “Rafa must be saying to himself, ‘Why did I tell this guy to move to Spain?'”

It was nice to see Mary Carillo take over the postmatch ceremony at the women’s final. CBS’ Dick Enberg simply made too many mistakes in that role over the past few years, and Carillo was a breath of fresh air, particularly in interviewing Jelena Jankovic.

Here’s a thumbs-up to Jankovic, by the way, by taking the proper approach to a controversial shot. For some reason, it’s considered bad form to uncork a bullet at your opponent’s body. It’s a perfectly legitimate shot, absolutely the best strategy at certain times, but no, you’re supposed to hold up your hand and apologize. Jankovic absorbed a couple of body blows from Serena Williams but just smiled, shook them off and headed back to the baseline.